The Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone is the best the company has made in sometime. Picture: Supplied Source: National Features

THIS is the phone tipped to bring Nokia back from the brink.

It's the company's first Windows 8 device, its first to have a 4.5-inch screen and its first 4G phone in Australia.

It's also the first Lumia to feature a glossy exterior and only the second Nokia phone to use PureView camera technology.

But can it turn around years of declining patronage?

The Lumia 920 is certainly a good start. It's hard to miss, with a large form and eye-catching colours added to its glossy, polycarbonate body.

The canary yellow model was near impossible to lose in the bottom of a busy handbag.

This attractive phone is also exceedingly well crafted. Like other Lumia models, its Corning Gorilla Glass curves seamlessly into its shell and the outer buttons are low-profile but easy to use.

Its only physical downfall is its size. At 185g, this smartphone outweighs Samsung's Galaxy Note II and becomes heavy in the hand during long browsing sessions.

That weight does support the largest screen on a Nokia phone, however. The 4.5-inch display is impressive for other reasons, too. It features IPS technology that makes it easy to see from an angle, a higher resolution than the Apple iPhone 5 at 332 pixels per inch, and its colours are crisp and bright.

It's a display that makes Windows Phone 8 look good, which may be this phone's biggest drawcard.

The second coming in the new era of Windows Phone software is an obvious improvement, with two sizes of Live Tiles filling the screen.

It adds plenty of extras, including multi-tasking for eight apps, Nokia Maps integration, Internet Explorer 10, Xbox SmartGlass for controlling an Xbox 360, support for memory cards, and support for more powerful multi-core processors.

The latter allows this phone to use a 1.5GHz dual-core chip and 1GB RAM. It's not market-leading but it speeds the phone up substantially.

Also impressive is the phone's 8.7-megapixel rear camera. Nokia's cameras, with Carl Zeiss lenses, have a solid reputation and this model cements it. Photos look sharp, natural and highly detailed.

Nokia's potential comeback phone is not perfect, though. It is limited by the Windows Phone 8 Store that still suffers from major omissions, its battery life should be better given its size, it won't accept a memory card even though the software supports it, and its bulk will be divisive.

The Lumia 920 is a stand-out smartphone, however, and the best Nokia has made in some time.

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